The all-party meeting called by the Tamil Nadu government over the Supreme Court’s February 16 verdict on the Cauvery water sharing dispute was held on Thursday.
In the meeting, the members decided the government will consult legal experts on how to approach the issue further and explore possible legal recourse.
It was also decided that an all-party meeting with the Prime Minister should be held. Narendra Modi will be in Chennai on February 24 for late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's birth anniversary celebrations. This was to exert pressure in order to ensure that the Cauvery Management Board will be instituted.
It was also concluded that the members would demand that the Cauvery Management Board be constituted within six weeks of the Supreme Court verdict.
On February 16, the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on the long-awaited Cauvery water-sharing dispute. The court announced that Tamil Nadu would get 177.25 tmc ft water, which was brought down and Karnataka would get 14.75 tmc ft more than it was allocated in the previous judgement. The apex court also ordered the setting up of a Cauvery Management Board, a long-standing request of Tamil Nadu.
Opposition parties slammed the AIADMK for failing to secure a more favourable verdict.
Opposition leader and DMK Working President M K Stalin called on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami to conduct an all-party meet, a demand that the government accepted. Following this, the DMK cancelled opposition parties meet as a gesture of goodwill.
Upon the insistence of the opposition parties, the government also decided to urge the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board. Several leaders had demanded that the process of setting up the board be expedited and transparent.
Apart from the CM, MK Stalin of the DMK, Vijayakanth of the DMDK and Thirunavvukarasar of the Indian Congress were also in attendance.
Representatives from 35 political parties including the Bahujan Samaj Party, BJP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP, PMK, TNYML and MDMK and 14 farmer organisations.